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Philippines acknowledges shooting location in dispute

ROC Central News Agency

2013/05/28 21:39:37

Manila, May 28 (CNA) The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) on Tuesday acknowledged that there is some dispute over the location of a fatal shooting incident at sea, apparently backing away from an earlier claim that it had taken place in the Philippines' territorial waters.

Since there is a dispute over where exactly the May 9 shooting took place, "we'll leave it to the (Philippine) National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to determine," Armand Balilo, a PCG spokesman, told reporters.

The PCG is carrying out its own investigation and the findings are expected shortly, he added.

The PCG had been maintaining that the shooting of a Taiwanese fisherman aboard a fishing boat occurred in Philippine waters.

Taiwan has said that Hung Shih-cheng, a 65-year-old fisherman from Taiwan's southern county of Pingtung, was killed aboard the 15-ton Kuang Ta Hsing No. 28 with a crew of four that was operating in an overlapping exclusive economic zone of the two countries.

Data recorded onboard the fishing boat showed that the vessel was 40 to 50 nautical miles from the nearest Philippine islands when it was hit by some 50 rounds of gunfire from a PCG patrol boat.

Hung was fatally hit by a single bullet to the neck while seeking cover in the engine room.

Balilo's comments came as a team of Taiwan investigators visited the PCG headquarters and later inspected the patrol boat involved in the shooting.

The crew members of the patrol boat have been relieved of their duties and are being held at the PCG headquarters, said Balilo. If their lawyers do not object, the PCG would be willing to let the Taiwan investigators question the crew, he said.

Coast Guard Commandant Rodolfo D. Isorena has given instructions to provide full assistance and cooperation during the Taiwan investigators' visit, Balilo said.

Some of the investigators, led by a prosecutor from Pingtung County, boarded the 90-ton patrol boat while others inspected its exterior Tuesday afternoon.

They spent more than an hour inspecting the 30-meter vessel, accompanied by officials from the Philippine Coast Guard and National Bureau of Investigation.

Eduardo Gongona, a PCG fleet commander, said afterward that there were unidentifiable scrape marks on the starboard side of the patrol boat.

The Taiwan investigators took paint samples in an effort to find out what might have been the cause, he said.

Initial reports based on the accounts of the PCG crew said that the fishing boat tried to ram the larger vessel but the fishing boat skipper and the Taiwan government denied the allegation.

(By Emerson Lim, Page Tsai and Jay Chen)